


Show Me The Way Back Home

by americanhoney913



Series: Catradora [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra Needs A Hug, Catradora is SOFT, F/F, Nightmares, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24284965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanhoney913/pseuds/americanhoney913
Summary: I just wanna love youDon't wanna lose meDon't wanna lose you, whoa-ohIf it gets harderThen I don't wanna break all aloneI wanna break in your arms--- I Dont Wanna Break, Christina Perri***“Your friends never came for you.” Horde Prime puts a cold, clawed hand on her shoulder. She can almost hear the smile in his voice. “You told them not to and they listened.”“No! I remember. You forced me to fight Adora. She took me home.” Her voice cracks and she spins around to face him. He looks down at her with those four eyes, his demeanor calm while she knows that her whole body’s fluffed up to make her look tough. “We fought you and we won.”“You didn’t win, little sister.”
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Catradora [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807921
Comments: 4
Kudos: 79





	1. No Light Above (And There's No Hope Below)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first venture into Catradora as a writer. 
> 
> She-Ra really went there and gave us a fully rounded story with characters who grow and change and have story arcs. We got angst and love and hope and pain and so much. This show, in my opinion, has been a great representation of LGBT while not having that be the focus of the storyline. How people can grow and change and evolve, have their core beliefs rocked and use it to fuel their character arcs. 
> 
> Thank you, Noelle and all the people who worked on this show, to bring us a storyline that means so much to me and so many others.

_ **FLASH** _

Catra sits up on the cold hard floor and groans. She reaches to scratch the back of her neck, but comes into contact with something. It’s the Horde Chip. She yowls and scratches at it, feeling little droplets of blood on her fur as she digs her claws in, trying to get them under the chip so she can get it off.

“ _There’s no use fighting, little sister,_ ” Horde Prime’s smooth voice echoes, both in her head and in her ears. They flick back and forth, like she’s trying to get the sound out.

“But… but they came for me,” she shouts, her tail lashing back and forth. “ _Adora_ came for me.” Her throat begins to close up but she refuses to cry in front of Horde Prime. “She promised we’d go home.”

“ _Your friends never came for you._ ” Horde Prime puts a cold, clawed hand on her shoulder. She can almost hear the smile in his voice. “ _You told them not to and they listened._ ”

“No! I remember. You forced me to fight Adora. She took me home.” Her voice cracks and she spins around to face him. He looks down at her with those four eyes, his demeanor calm while she knows that her whole body’s fluffed up to make her look tough. “We fought you and we _won_.”

“ _You didn’t win, little sister,_ ” Horde Prime tells her as he sweeps his hand across the monitor. There, floating in space is Mara’s ship, cracked right down the middle.

“No!” she screams as she sees the wreckage. She can see bodies among the warped metal and floating glass. Her eyes turn to slits as they focus find red and white, seeing the screen zoom in on Adora’s face, blue and covered in ice, still. No She-Ra.

“ _It is for the best, little sister._ ” His hand falls to her shoulder again and a jolt of electricity runs down her spine, making her curl in on herself, her tail coming around to land on her lap. “ _Once we activate the Heart of Etheria, I will rule over all._ ” His smile as he kneels down in front of her is cruel. “ _So, thank you, for leading your friends right into my trap._ ”

‘ _I’m sorry,_ ’ Catra thinks as she closes her eyes and gives in to the sobs threatening to spill from her body, the despair rising up like a crashing wave. ‘ _I’m so sorry._ ’

She lets out an ear-piercing scream and then all goes black.

** _FLASH_ **

Catra’s ears perk up as she hears the sound of rumbling and charged thunder. The whole room feels like it’s full of static electricity, making her fur stand on end. She remembers this moment. Remembers Adora laying in her arms, breathing heavily. There are snakes of green slowly crawling over her skin, the virus trying to get to the failsafe. The light in the room casts a sickly glow over Catra’s darker fur and Adora’s paler skin. Her eyes flutter shut.

“Adora,” Catra calls, “Adora, stay awake.” She cups Adora’s face in one hand, her claws resting against skin more gentle than they’ve touched Adora since she left the Horde. Since she abandoned Catra. She shakes her head; she can't think about that now. That's a problem for Future-Catra, and she's finally holding out hope that there is a future for her... for all of them.

“I’m sorry,” Adora’s whisper floats between them. She puts her hand over Catra’s as her eyes flutter; her breathing gets a little shallower. The green virus continues to crawl along her skin and it’s like Catra can’t breathe. Her tail lashes back and forth in agitation, her ears drooping. Adora breathes out her name and her eyes flutter shut and don’t open up again.

“Adora!” Catra pulls her to her chest. “Adora!” She puts her ear to Adora’s heart, listening for any skip or pause. It stutters for a second and she digs her nails into Adora’s Horde uniform. Sometimes Catra can’t believe the blonde’s still wearing it, even after all she’s done to try to get away from her past. From Catra, herself. 

Catra will never admit it, but her voice cracks as she begins to beg. Something she’s never done. Would not have done for Adora before the blonde came back for her. Will never do for anyone other than Adora. “Please! You have to wake up!” She pulls Adora’s limp body up, holding back a sob as the blonde slumps in her hold. She cups the back of her neck and doesn’t hold back. She’s going to do whatever it takes to bring Adora back to her. They might not be where they were before Adora left her behind-- probably never will be-- but they’ve found some common ground and are on the way to, well, something. She cups the back of Adora’s neck, rubbing a claw over her cheek. “You can’t give up.” She winces as the static from the Heart begins to hum and get louder. Catra can almost hear it charging up and she knows they don’t have much time. “You have never given up on anything in your life.” Tears slide down her cheeks, staining Adora’s red jacket, and her ears droop even further. “Not even on me.” Her claws dig in a little bit and Adora makes a soft pained noise. Catra retracts her claws, but that’s the only reaction she’s gotten so far. At least it's something. “So, don’t you dare start now.”

If Catra didn’t have such a heightened sense of hearing, she might not have heard Adora’s heart skip for a moment. She sniffles and the claw on her thumb continues to trace the blonde’s cheekbone. “It’s too late,” she says so quietly that it’s almost lost over the electric hum of the Heart. “I failed.”

“No. No. I’ve got you. I’m not letting you go.” She digs her claws gently into Adora’s ponytail, resting the blonde’s head over her shoulder. She can feel shallow breaths ruffle her fur and it’s both soothing and heartbreaking. She just got Adora back, in some way shape or form. She’s not letting her go now. “Don’t you get it?” Her voice cracks. “I love you. I always have.” She heaves a sob as her strength finally gives out. She can’t hold the two of them up anymore. Adora slides to the ground and she follows. Her tail curls around one of Adora’s legs and she rests her head against Adora’s chest, listening to her heartbeat. She sobs. They can’t lose. Adora can’t give up. She never gave up. “So, please, just this once… stay!”

Adora’s breath shudders in her chest, but she doesn’t wake up. The floor feels cold against Catra’s fur and the static in the room is almost too much. There’s no hope without She-Ra, but that doesn’t matter to her. Catra knows she could survive as long as Adora does. Catra rests one ear against Adora’s heart. If she’s to die, she wants to die listening to Adora’s heartbeat, her breath. “Stay.” She buries her face in the blonde’s neck, tears sliding down her fur and onto Adora’s neck.

Catra closes her eyes as the Heart’s power gets too strong. The hum turns into a crash and then the sound of lightning. She feels her final breath rattling around in her chest, clutching Adora’s shirt in her claws, the electricity making every single hair on her body rise. It’s now or never for Adora to wake up, to do something. Anything. This isn’t how Catra expected it to go. It can’t end like this.

Catra arches her back when the feel of the electricity gets to be too much. The green light of the virus flickers and all the light goes out. Then, in a blinding green flash, Catra screams as blinding pain sears through her back. Under her, Adora shudders once and goes still. Over the crackling of lightning and the scent of charred fur and flesh, Catra hears Adora’s heart give a final throb before it goes silent.

“ _ADORA!_ ”

_ **FLASH** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think. This story should be three chapters and the second chapter is already written. I hope I captured the characters correctly, even if it's short!
> 
> Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger!


	2. There's No Home (Without You In It)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Panic attack cure taken from Teen Wolf.

“NO!” she screams as she scrambles back, her claws digging into the too-plush mattress, almost falling off the bed in her haste to make space between herself and her nightmare. Catra reaches up to the back of her neck, as she’s taken to doing, scratching at the scar that never healed from the chip. “Please!” She claws there, feeling blood dripping down her spine fur, just like in her dream. She presses herself as far as she can into the headboard to get away from the figure in front of her. 

“Catra?” She blinks away the haze of fear and finds Adora sitting at the other end of the bed, eyes wide. She’s got some claw-shaped slashes in her tank top, but she’s got one hand out as if reaching for her. “What’s wrong?”

The magicat can’t breathe, can’t do anything but shake her head. Tears sting as they stream down her cheeks, but she doesn’t have the energy to wipe them away. Her whole body quivers and she can’t control herself. Her ears droop and her tail lashes from side to side. 

“Catra, hey.” Adora knee walks across the bed so that she can settle in front of Catra, hesitant, like she’s done every single time Catra got upset and ran off. She holds her hands out in front of her and doesn’t touch Catra at all. “Hey, calm down.” She rests one hand next to Catra’s, not touching but close enough to feel the warmth of her fur. “You had a bad dream. It’s okay. No one can hurt you.” Catra’s whole body shakes as she sees Horde Prime’s green eyes almost smiling at her; she can still hear Adora’s heart give one last final thump before it goes quiet forever. Her body shakes and she tries to focus on something that isn’t the memory.

“I can’t,” she whines. Catra feels like she's choking, the words getting caught in her throat, caught on the air she can't get into her lungs.

Adora bites her lip. That much Catra can see through the haze. “Try and slow your breathing,” Adora says. She goes silent for a moment and Catra can’t hear anything over the sound of the blood rushing in her ears. 

“I can’t,” Catra whines, “I can’t.”

Catra can’t see through the tears streaming down through the fur on her face. She’s getting harder to breath and everything looks fuzzy and glossy. Adora’s shimmering through Catra’s tears. She tries to swallow but it feels like Shadow Weaver’s got her hands around her throat, the darkness closing in.

“Look at me,” Adora’s voice sounds like it’s underwater. “Look at me.”

Ears drooping, Catra tries to copy Adora, to breathe with her. She feels the blonde’s running through her the fur on her arm, trying to bring her back.

“I…”

Adora doesn’t give her time to breath. Catra’s eyes go wide when the blonde leans in and presses their lips together. They’ve kissed a few times in the weeks since She-Ra saved Etheria, but this is different. It’s like everything freezes, as if the whole world stops breathing. Catra can’t think of anything but Adora’s lips on hers, the softness of her skin, the feel of Adora’s fingers tangled in her short hair, the tips brushing at the still-growing fuzz on her ear. One of Catra’s hands grabs Adora’s, the other cupping the blonde's cheek as their mouths move together.

When they pull apart, Catra can’t speak. She tries several times, her mouth opening and closing, before she finally breathes out, “H-how’d you do that?”

Adora’s face flushes in the moonlight beginning to peek through the window. “I, uh, I read once, that holding your breath could stop a panic attack.” The thought of Adora reading at all makes her heart thump. But the fact that she knows Catra’s had panic attacks since they were little because of Shadow Weaver, and then she’d go and seek out knowledge, warms her heart. “So, when I kissed you, you held your breath.”

“I did?”

“Yeah, you did.” Adora’s soft voice cracks and there’s a few tears sliding down her cheeks to mirror the ones Catra’s shedding, but she can breathe and Adora’s here. She’s not a body floating in space and she’s not dead from Horde Prime’s virus. The blonde reaches up to brush some of her longer hair behind her ear, cupping her face and sweeping her thumb across the apple of her cheek.

The magicat can't help the purr that rumbles through her chest. She used to be embarrassed when it happened, could always count on the other cadets to tease her, except Adora. The blonde would always give her a soft smile, just like the one she's giving Catra now.

Catra pulls on the hand she’s still holding and Adora smiles, coming easily to her side. Catra feels exhausted; she hasn’t been sleeping well, but she does better when the blonde’s here with her. Adora rests against the outrageously puffy pillows and sighs, resting her head on one arm while the other grips the back of Catra’s sleep shirt. Catra herself curls up on Adora’s lap, wraps her tail around her thigh, and tucks her nose under the blonde’s chin, letting out a sigh that tapers off into a purr. Maybe if she can just climb inside Adora, there’ll be a quiet place she can rest, between her ribs, next to the steady, unchanging rhythm of her heart.

“Thanks, Adora,” she purrs as she settles down. She knows she won’t fall back asleep, but just being together, with no plans, is better than anything she could have imagined when Adora left her behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought! There's one more chapter after this, but I'd love to hear what people think!


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